Endangered Species

Two new species of cichlid fish have been found in Lake Victoria. One of the species has been names after Tijs Goldschmidt, the author of Darwin’s Dreampond. The book explains the extinction of hundreds of cichlid species due to the Nile perch and other human related environmental changes during the 1980s.

An investigation at a turtle farm in the Caribbean revealed overcrowding, neglect, and unsanitary conditions have led to the mistreatment of the endangered sea turtles, putting the species at risk in the Cayman Islands.

“The Arctic is an extremely sensitive part of the world and with the warming scientists have observed, we see the results with less snow and sea ice, greater ice sheet melt, and changing vegetation," NOAA's administrator said.

Brazil's Salto Morato Nature Preserve is a haven for scientists studying the dwindling Atlantic rainforest, an area less renowned than the Amazon forest but just as biologically diverse and equally threatened by human encroachment.

According to a recent study, climate change was found to typically lead to local extinctions and declines by influencing interactions between species, such as reducing prey populations for predators. Little evidence has been found to support declining or extinct species due to direct effects of higher temperatures.

Officials from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) are estimating that over 10,000 migrating birds have died so far this year because of reduced water flow to the Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon and California. Officials say the final death toll may be close to 20,000 birds.

More than 99 percent of Antarctic blue whales were killed by commercial whalers during the 20th century, but the first circumpolar genetic study of these critically endangered whales has found a surprisingly high level of diversity among the surviving population of some 2,200 individuals.

Both climate change and humans were responsible for the extinction of some large mammals, according to research that is the first of its kind to use genetic, archeological, and climatic data together to infer the population history of large Ice-Age mammals.

When a species recovers enough to be removed from the federal endangered species list, the public trust doctrine – the principle that government must conserve natural resources for the public good – should guide state management of wildlife, scientists say.

For decades, scientists have believed that a relationship exists between how much biomass plant species produce and how many species can coexist. Stanley Harpole, assistant professor in the Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology at Iowa State University, was part of the team researching productivity and richness, and he says the research doesn’t support that relationship.

In parts of the world still rich in biodiversity, separating natural habitats from high-yielding farmland could be a more effective way to conserve wild species than trying to grow crops and conserve nature on the same land, according to a new study published today in the journal Science.